Search — Theology Explorer

2 Corinthians 7 metanoia 2 Corinthians 7 Repentance

Metanoia definition: a complete change of thought, attitude, and behavior regarding sin and righteousness — not inherently grief.

Reading the lexical definition from Bible software.

Contextual reading Bible study methodology Hermeneutics

Bible study tip: spend more time reading the text itself before turning to commentaries.

Joey Fisher asks for study tips for going deeper in the Bible.

Bible study methodology Commentaries Critical thinking in theology

How to use commentaries well: seek their reasoning, not their conclusions; read multiple commentaries.

Continuing Bible study methodology advice.

Blue Letter Bible Bible study resources

Blue Letter Bible (blueletterbible.org) recommended as a free online resource for Bible study.

Practical resource recommendation in the study tips section.

Apologetics Gospel reliability Argument from silence

Argument from silence is a poor historical method: uniqueness to one Gospel does not discredit the account.

Responding to the implicit skeptical argument behind the Matthew 27 question.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 Sexual immorality 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 Homosexuality

1 Corinthians 6:9 lists sins (including homosexual practice) that preclude inheriting the kingdom; false teaching on these sins subverts the gospel.

Leanne Waters asks whether those who teach homosexual relations are okay are rejecting the true Jesus and true gospel.

Exodus Apologetics Exodus Archaeology and the Bible

Secular and archaeological evidence for the Exodus exists but Mike cannot present it in detail; early vs. late dating debate.

Patrick Mosher asks if there is secular historical or archaeological evidence for the Exodus.

Biblical inspiration Biblical epistemology Apologetics methodology

Proper epistemology for trusting Scripture: demonstrate Bible is from God, then trust it — rather than requiring external proof for every claim.

Mike's methodological note on the Exodus question.

Hermeneutics Eschatology Preterism

Preterism: all/most Bible prophecy fulfilled by 70 AD — initially appealing but breaks down under scrutiny.

Lindy Z asks about preterism.

Mike Winger idea 2019-03-14

John McCrae's favored arguments: contingency, Kalam, J.P. Moreland's argument from consciousness; also finds psychological features of the Bible's content persuasive

John introduces himself and shares his apologetic focus

John McCrae Trinity John McCrae argument from contingency

Mike Winger idea 2019-03-14

Q&A: Why doesn't God interact visibly today as in Bible times? Mike's answer: miracles were always rare; God interacts spiritually now; the Bible establishes the foundation

Q&A question from "I'm Zen"

miracles divine intervention Scripture as sufficient revelation

Mike Winger idea 2019-03-27

Cameron Bertuzzi (Capturing Christianity): inability to answer a question doesn't mean Christianity is false; testimony is a legitimate epistemic basis

Video clip from Cameron Bertuzzi with pastoral/apologetic advice for Christians facing SE

Apologetics Capturing Christianity Cameron Bertuzzi

Mike Winger idea 2019-03-27

Mike takes one audience question: book recommendations for atheists — Josh McDowell's Evidence That Demands a Verdict and More Than a Carpenter

Q&A section, only one question received from non-believers

Josh McDowell Evidence That Demands a Verdict Sean McDowell

Mike Winger idea 2019-04-03

John 21:18-19 — Jesus's prediction of Peter's death (stretching out his hands) as biblical evidence for Peter's martyrdom, with dual-hypothesis argument

First biblical source for Peter's martyrdom

John 21:18-19 apostolic martyrdom Peter the Apostle John 21:18-19

Mike Winger idea 2019-04-10

Non-Christians define faith as "belief without evidence" because they assume Christians have no evidence

Analyzing the poll divide

faith evidence for Christianity belief without evidence

Mike Winger idea 2019-04-10

Anthony Magnabosco defines faith with two tiers: trust for natural claims, "untestable truth" for supernatural claims

Examining the top Street Epistemology YouTuber's definition of faith

Street Epistemology Anthony Magnabosco definition of faith

Mike Winger idea 2019-04-10

Mike announces a verse-by-verse study through the Gospel of Mark beginning in May

Ministry announcement

Gospel of Mark verse-by-verse Bible study

apologetics Sam Harris parenting

Q&A: Advice for a homeschool mom — expose kids to real-world ideas rather than sheltering them; the principle of strategic exposure

Audience question from a homeschooling mother

Southern Baptist Convention Barna Research The Myth of the Dying Church

Q&A: Why is church attendance dropping? Glenn Stanton's "The Myth of the Dying Church" — mainline churches are dying, not Bible-believing churches

Audience question about church decline, particularly among Millennials and Gen Z

marriage gospel Millennials

Millennial and Gen Z church return: life-stage markers like marriage and children are happening later or not at all, making the expected return uncertain

McDowell addresses the question of whether lapsed young people will return

biblical authority cultural accommodation church attendance

Why mainline churches are dying: no meaningful difference from wider culture gives people no reason to attend

McDowell gives the bottom-line diagnosis for mainline church decline

Mike Winger idea 2019-05-01

Twitter response 3: Want documented accounts with originals protected — which is what we have

Third respondent's example of extraordinary evidence.

Bart Ehrman Resurrection of Jesus Biblical manuscripts

Mike Winger idea 2019-05-01

Twitter response 4: Bible found on the moon, photos from 2000 years ago, predictions — absurd demands

Fourth respondent's example of extraordinary evidence — illustrating how the slogan leads to unreasonable expectations.

Resurrection of Jesus Historical evidence Prophecy

Mike Winger idea 2019-05-08

Near-death experience books should be tested against Scripture and not used to supplement or replace it; the danger is NDE narrators becoming gurus with insider knowledge

Response to a question about the theological accuracy of books like 23 Minutes in Hell and 90 Minutes in Heaven

Scripture authority spiritual discernment near-death experiences

Mike Winger idea 2019-05-08

Biblical cosmology should not be assumed to match ancient Near Eastern flat-earth cosmology just because surrounding cultures believed it; Genesis radically demythologizes creation compared to the Enuma Elish

Response to question about Hebraic cosmology and the flat-earth interpretation

Genesis 1 hermeneutics Genesis 1 demythologization

Mike Winger idea 2019-05-08

John 8 (woman caught in adultery) has significant textual critical issues; there is no good case for identifying her as Mary Magdalene; the absence of the man reflects a real double standard

Response to question about the woman caught in adultery

John 8 Mary Magdalene textual criticism John 8

Deuteronomy 18 Isaiah 41:21-24 Deuteronomy 18 divine inspiration predictive prophecy

Predictive prophecy as criterion for divine inspiration

Jonathan McLatchie explains how the Bible itself uses predictive prophecy as a criterion for identifying divine inspiration.

divine inspiration Jonathan McLatchie unity of Scripture

Unity of the Bible as a second argument for divine inspiration

Mike Winger introduces the unity of Scripture as a distinct argument from prophecy for divine inspiration.

Hosea 11:1 Proverbs 30:1-4 Hosea 11:1 divine sonship Jonathan McLatchie

Proverbs 30:1-4 — God and his Son in the Hebrew Bible

McLatchie highlights Proverbs 30:1-4 as an often-overlooked text implying the divine sonship within the Hebrew Scriptures.

Islam divine inspiration Quran

Why unity argument doesn't work for Islam — Quran vs. Bible authorship

Cameron Bertuzzi's question: if unity of Scripture argues for divine inspiration, why doesn't it work for the Quran?

deity of Christ Jonathan McLatchie pagan deity parallels

Objection: Jesus's deity borrowed from pagan deities — and response

Addressing the popular online claim that the deity of Jesus was borrowed from pagan mythologies.

Mike Winger idea 2019-05-22

Acts 10: Cornelius is introduced -- the first non-proselyte Gentile to receive the gospel. He is a God-fearer but not circumcised and not under the law.

Survey of Acts chapter 10, Cornelius

Acts 10:1-2 Craig Keener Cornelius Josephus

Mike Winger idea 2019-05-22

Acts 13:42-46 -- Paul invited back next Sabbath; nearly the whole city comes; jealous Jews contradict him; Paul and Barnabas declare they are turning to the Gentiles

Survey of Acts 13:42-46, rejection by Jews and turn to Gentiles

Acts 13:42-46 Barnabas Paul the Apostle Gentile mission

Mike Winger idea 2019-05-22

Q&A: strategy for reaching those deeply in Hebrew Roots movement -- speak truth in love, handle one issue at a time, use Acts 13-15 in Bible study format

Q&A response about evangelizing Hebrew Roots adherents

Acts 15 Acts 13 Acts 15 Hebrew Roots movement apologetics

Mike Winger idea 2019-06-13

Anderson is King James Only — his church's statement of faith lists KJV without error as first article

Other theological problems with Anderson beyond homosexuality teaching

textual criticism Bible translation Steven Anderson

Mike Winger idea 2019-06-19

Bart Ehrman's statement: mythicist view has no foothold among modern critical scholars

Quoting agnostic/atheist scholar to demonstrate non-Christian scholarly consensus

scholarly consensus Bart Ehrman Jesus mythicism

1 Corinthians 13:10 James 1:23-25 cessationism canon of Scripture to teleion

Cessationist Interpretation 1: "the perfect" (to teleion) = the completed Bible, supported by a mirror/perfect-law parallel in James 1:23-25.

First of two cessationist readings. Proponents cite the shared vocabulary of "mirror" and "perfect" (teleios) between 1 Cor 13 and James 1 to argue the perfect thing is Scripture.

1 Corinthians 13:12 James 1:4 James 1:17 cessationism face to face with God 1 Corinthians 13:12

Rebuttal of Interpretation 1: teleios is a broad word with many non-Scripture referents, and the mirror image in James functions differently than in 1 Cor 13.

Winger raises two problems with equating "the perfect" with the completed Bible.

1 Corinthians 13:8-12 cessationism canon of Scripture to teleion

Cessationist Interpretation 2 (Masters Seminary): prophecy and knowledge = inscripturated revelation; massive time gap between vv. 11 and 12; "the perfect" = the church brought to maturity by the Bible.

Summary of the three key concepts in the Masters Seminary article that underpin its cessationist reading of 1 Cor 13.

1 Corinthians 13:8-12 cessationism to teleion exegesis

Rebuttal of the massive time-gap claim: the verse-by-verse flow of 1 Cor 13:8-12 is continuous; no gap is linguistically justified.

Second major objection. Winger argues the narrative logic of the passage runs uninterrupted from v. 8 through v. 12.

1 Corinthians 15 cessationism 1 Corinthians 15 eschatology

1 Corinthians 15 confirms: "the perfect" is the resurrection state — imperishable bodies, the last trumpet, being changed — not the completion of the Bible.

Winger appeals to 1 Cor 15 (same letter, shortly after ch. 13) as the definitive referent for "when the perfect comes."

1 Corinthians 12-14 1 Corinthians 12-14 cessationism continuationism

The cure for hyper-charismatic abuse is not cessationism but the biblical regulative norms already given in 1 Cor 12-14 for how gifts function in the church.

Winger resists the reactionary move of becoming cessationist in response to charismatic excess.

Isaiah 45:7 Isaiah 45:7 Did God Create Evil moral evil

Introduction: Isaiah 45:7 quoted as evidence God created moral evil

Opening setup of the livestream topic

Isaiah 45:7 Isaiah 45:7 biblical interpretation methodology Hebrew exegesis

Study plan: Hebrew word analysis, context, origin of evil, and other questions

Mike outlines the teaching structure for the session

Isaiah 45:7 semantic range Isaiah 45:7 ra

Hebrew word ra — range of meaning includes calamity, distress, harm, not only moral evil

Mike examines the Hebrew word translated "evil" in Isaiah 45:7 using multiple lexicons

Isaiah 45:7 Jeremiah 39:12 Amos 6:3 Isaiah 45:7 ra calamity vs moral evil

Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament: ra in Isaiah 45:7 denotes calamity, not moral evil

Additional lexical support from TWOT

Isaiah 45:7 contextual interpretation Isaiah 45:7 ra

Contextual argument: peace (shalom) vs. calamity is the correct contrast, not peace vs. moral evil

Mike moves from lexical analysis to contextual/structural analysis of the verse

Isaiah 45 divine sovereignty Isaiah 45 Cyrus the Great

Historical context: Isaiah 45 is addressed to Cyrus, a pagan king — God asserting universal sovereignty

Mike examines the literary and historical setting of Isaiah 45

Isaiah 41:23 Lamentations 3:38-39 divine judgment ra calamity vs moral evil

Isaiah 41:23 and Lamentations 3:38-39 corroborate that God bringing evil/bad = calamity, not moral evil

Supporting passages examined to reinforce the interpretation of Isaiah 45:7